Hold Your Breath
by PaperbackHeart
Summary: Like a sheet being spread out over a mattress, the tunnel collapsed. Clint could still hear the bombs going off deep in the mountain, the only hint at something dark and sinister in the otherwise serene landscape of the Rockies. He had never felt so helpless in his life, so small. He wanted to dig into the rock, but it was so futile. They're dead. There is no surviving that.
1. Chapter 1

**Hold Your Breath**

 **SPOILERS:** Do not read if you haven't yet seen Avengers: Age of Ultron!

 **Summary:** Following the events of Sokovia and Ultron's demise, the Avengers help the remaining SHIELD agents get back on their feet and set up a new base in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. Inaccessible by plane, the heroes escort a convoy of SHIELD equipment and personnel through a tunnel ten miles long. Only, someone's beaten the convoy there and set up charges in the depths of the mountain along the tunnel walls. The Avengers face their most life-threatening mission yet, not in waves of aliens or a bugged AI, but in criminal sabotage with the weight of a mountain pressing down.

 **Chapter One:**

 **Nat:**

"Coulson was right. This _is_ in the middle of nowhere."

Nat stared out the car window at the jagged mountains and the valleys diving far, far below. Steve gave a chuckle and said, "It's not nowhere, it's the Rockies."

"There aren't even any power lines, Steve. _Power lines_."

"So?" he said.

She turned to look at the soldier, his shield glinting faintly at his feet.

"I know SHIELD's high tech, but this new base still needs to run on some form of electricity."

He just snorted in amusement and turned to look out his own window. Nat pulled herself up using the driver's seat and leaned into the front of the SUV.

"How far, Carl?" Nat asked.

Carl, their driver, turned his head and said, "It's just through there," and nodded ahead to a tunnel. It was a dark maw leading into the belly of the mountain before them. An odd wave of apprehension swept over her, but she ignored it. Nat had to admit that the mountains were beautiful if nothing else. Their convoy had been driving through them all day, the new base inaccessible by plane. The Avengers were called in to help, mostly to protect the many, many, _many_ weapons and equipment being shipped. After the entire Ultron fiasco, what was left of SHIELD needed a new base, somewhere they could start over and maybe get it right this time. This new base wasn't exactly new-an old relic from the WWII days, but Fury deemed it as good a place as any. And if Fury also saw fit for a bit of manual labor, then Thor, Steve, and Tony would be conveniently close. She sat back and gazed out the window where the earth seemed to bunch and fold in upon itself. The sun was just slightly to the left, a brilliant haze of gold slowly sinking behind the mountains. She looked forward to the tunnel and the mountain it was nestled in. A few SHIELD guards stood at the entrance, holding intimidating rifles and wearing stern faces. As the few vehicles in front of theirs slowed, the guards approached the windows and exchanged words. The convoy came to a stop. A flash of red and gold shot by Nat's window and Tony landed right beside the guard, the _clank_ of his armor able to be heard even from this far away. The SHIELD agent jumped in surprise, turning to face Stark. The engineer's face plate was retracted and a broad grin was visible. He and the agent exchanged a few rather passionate words, but he continued to badger the man even as the SHIELD agent turned away. Steve shook his head slightly, a look of exasperation on his face.

"Can't act his age, can he?"

"Guess not," Nat replied.

After a moment, she nudged Steve's shoulder and said, "Hey, hold your breath."

"What?"

"Hold your breath when we go through the tunnel," she said with a crooked smirk.

"Why?" he asked, confusion twisting his brow.

"Because it's fun. See if you can make it through," she challenged.

Carl turned around from the front and said, "Good luck with that. It's at least ten miles straight through."

"Way to suck the fun out of everything Carl," Nat said.

At that point, the guard had shooed Tony off and dealt with the lead car of the convoy. The line of cars started up their trek again. Nat saw the flash of red disappear into the tunnel, and she pictured Tony mapping out the new base and hacking into the newborn computer system before it was even properly started up. The cars in front disappeared into the tunnel, their headlights and harsh yellow bulbs on the walls lighting the way. Then it was their turn, and despite Carl, Natasha held her breath. Steve turned to her and rolled his eyes when he realized what she was doing. She lost sight of his face as the car traveled into the tunnel, their SUV swallowed in darkness. Still, she held her breath and made it perhaps two minutes before the first bomb went off.

This should have been routine. _This should have been routine._ _**This should have been routine.**_ It became a chant in Nat's head. She screamed out in surprise and gripped the back of Carl's seat in front of her. How could this have gone so south so quickly? The charges were still going off, sending out shock-waves that hit the car and shuddering _booms_ so loud she could barely think. She heard brakes squealing from the other vehicles around them, and then the tunnel lights flickered off. The bombs kept up an incessant thunder, shaking Natasha to her very bones. Carl shouted out something unintelligible, and by their headlights, Nat could see rocks beginning to fall. And not a few pebbles, but boulders, huge chunks of earth and rock. She shouted again as one such rock fell through the front of the car, crushing Carl. The windows shattered and they came literally to a crashing stop, Nat flying into the back of Carl's seat.

"Nat!" Steve shouted, and distantly she heard the sound of seat belts ripping. "Are you alright? Nat? Nat!"

He grabbed her arms and pulled Nat around to look at her.

"I'm fine," she said. "Just a little dizzy."

He opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by another thundering boom, and something big hit the top of the car _hard._ Faster than Nat could comprehend, Steve ripped her seat belt off too and pushed her into the floorboard. She shouted in horror as the car's roof collapsed on Steve's back, trapping them beneath the mountain.

 **Tony:**

Tony decided that he really hated SHIELD. Despite their faulty equipment, their too-easy-to-hack systems, their mostly incompetent agents (save a fiery redhead and a real-life Katniss Everdeen), despite all of that, Tony really hated them specifically for their utter lack of security and poor architectural skills. As the first one into the super-secret SHIELD tunnel, he got a pretty good look at the numerous charges set sparingly on the walls. He had just turned his head to shout out in warning when the first one blew up in his face. He didn't quite remember what happened after that until he woke up to Friday's voice.

"Sir?"

"Unnngh," he grunted in response.

Tony felt like he had been thrown into a high-powered dryer. His head was pounding, his chest uncomfortably tight.

"Sir? Are you conscious?"

"Regrettably," he said gruffly. "What happened?"

"It would appear that the tunnel has been compromised."

Slowly, Tony opened his eyes, squinting a bit at the light of the helmet display in front of him. Several levels were approaching the red zone, warning messages flashing across the holographic screen. One, of which, was the oxygen level.

"Friday?"

"You are currently buried under several tons of rock. It would appear the oxygen reservoir is running low."

"How long have I been out?" he asked.

"About two minutes, sir."

"The others?" he asked, dread curling in his stomach.

"I don't know, sir. There are several dozen dead, but I cannot tell which ones."

"What about communications?" Tony asked.

"Yours is functional. I do not know about the rest of the team's."

"Patch me through. Right into the car radios if you have to."

A couple moments passed as Friday reset the communications. Tony wanted to shift as something hard was pressed into his back, but he couldn't move at all, and through the screen in front of his face, he could see only darkness. Tony had the sneaking suspicion that he was, in fact, completely buried.

"Functional, sir," Friday said.

"Guys? Anyone there? Hey!" Tony shouted.

The engineer had long since forgiven the newest member and local telekinetic/telepath, but he still saw all of his partners piled up, dead, when it was sometimes a little too quiet at the tower. He didn't think he'd be able to stand it if that vision were to come true only under slightly different conditions. After what seemed like a millennium, a gruff voice called back, " _Barton and Pietro here_ ," and a picture of each showed up on Tony's screen.

"You took your time," Tony said, but beneath the snark, he was actually flooding with relief.

" _Oh shut up. I was only a minute_ ," Clint said, but then," _Where are you? You hurt?_ "

Tony wasn't exactly sure how to answer that as he still couldn't feel his legs, but Friday pulled up a diagnosis.

"Friday says I'm fine, but I'm going to run out of air in, oh-," he started, glancing at the screen again. "-about twelve minutes. Nothing major."

" _Of course. No big deal_ ," Pietro said.

Tony laughed despite himself.

"And how are you guys doing? Feeling a bit snug?"

" _We actually made it out thanks to Speed here_ ," Clint said to which Pietro chuckled.

And then a thunderous roar came over the line. Tony swore he could hear it outside of the line too, through the rock.

" _Oh, and Bruce is here too_ ," Clint added.

"Is he alright?"

Another roar.

" _Just turning a bit green_."

 **Clint:**

When the first bomb went off, Clint did not even have enough time to jump in surprise. He heard the _boom_ and then he was just...not there anymore. He wasn't sitting in the car, trapped in the tunnel, he was kneeling _outside_ of it, sun shining down on him. By the time he was over the shock, Bruce was there too. And Pietro.

"Oh my god," he said as the sound of cars squealing and charges tearing the tunnel apart washed over him.

And like a sheet being spread out over a mattress, the tunnel collapsed just as Pietro made to run back in.

"No!" Barton shouted and was surprised that he got ahold of the Enhanced in time.

"My sister!" Pietro shouted in reply, tugging his arm from Clint's.

Pietro turned to the tunnel in earnest, but he was too late and the sound of the mountain slowly began to dim as the entrance crumpled.

"Jesus," Clint said under his breath, taking his head in his hands. "Oh no. Oh no, no, no."

"Wanda," Pietro mumbled and became a blur as he worked at the rubble, pulling rocks and earthy debris to the side. "Wanda. Wanda!"

Clint could still hear the bombs going off deep in the mountain, the only hint at something dark and sinister in the otherwise serene landscape. He had never felt so helpless in his life, so small. He wanted to dig into the rock as well, but it was so futile. Despite the deep ache the thought of it brought, Clint imagined where Nat was. As best as he could remember, she was with Steve in a car a couple vehicles ahead of him. Perhaps they could dig them out? He dismissed the thought immediately and decided he would not get his hopes up for anything of the sort. _She's dead_ , he thought. _There was no getting out of that, no surviving that_. Clint was pulled from his dark thoughts as a strangled shout issued from Bruce. He turned to look at the scientist who was kneeling on the ground, fists clenched tight.

"Pietro," Clint said, trying for the Enhanced's attention. "Pietro, we need to calm him down."

He turned from his work and glanced at Bruce who was steadily turning green. Pietro's eyes widened in fear and he said, "What's wrong with him? Why is he turning?"

"He's in shock," Clint said and knelt before the shaking man. "Bruce, can you hear me? Bruce."

Bruce shoved him away and rolled on his side, trembling violently and letting loose another gruff exclaim.

"Get away," he growled.

He jerked, scrambling to hold on, but he was already shifting into his larger form.

"He's going to turn," Clint mumbled, backing away. "And it's not going to be pretty."

Just then a smug, pompous voice came over the radio and Clint would never have thought he'd be so damn happy to hear it.

" _Guys? Anyone there? Hey!_ "

Clint looked at Pietro and couldn't help the grin that fell on his face. Tony was okay. Tony was alright. He would know what to do, he was smart. Tony would help them.

"Barton and Pietro here."

A moment later came a gruff reply, " _You took your time._ " And Clint stifled a laugh.

"Oh shut up, I was only a minute." Clint said. "Where are you? You hurt?"

Tony's voice came back over the line, a little more dramatic than strictly necessary.

" _Friday says I'm fine, but I'm going to run out of air in, oh, about twelve minutes. Nothing major_."

"Of course. No big deal," Pietro said.

Tony's laugh came over the line. " _And how are you guys doing? Feeling a bit snug?_ "

"We actually made it out thanks to Speed here."

Bruce then gave an almighty roar.

"Oh, and Bruce is here too."

The line fell silent for a moment and then, " _Is he alright?_ " Bruce roared again.

"Just turning a bit green," Clint said.

He didn't wait to hear the response. The archer backed away from the growing man, once again in awe over the Hulk's immense size and bulging muscles.

"Pietro," he said, reaching back for the newest Avenger. "Stand back."

Banner's body seemed to explode with energy, his chest, arms, and legs swelling in size, all the while turning green. He turned over again, resting on his forearms and shins, head bowed and finally still. It was almost like the calm before the storm.

"Bruce?" Clint said after a moment when the tremors had all disappeared from the huge green form. "Bruce, are you alright?"

Like another bomb going off, the Hulk roared and slammed fists the size of car engines into the ground. Pietro grabbed Clint again, and pulled him out of the way as the Hulk turned his angry confusion on the archer. Clint jumped back and suddenly found himself between an angry green giant and a mountain.

 **Wanda:**

Her first instinct was to grab for her brother, to hold his hand in hers and make sure he was alright. In the week after Sokovia, she was by his bedside day and night, clutching that hand and tending to her brother's wounds as best she could. Dr. Cho's handiwork did the rest and now her big brother was up and Avenging again. He had been with Clint a few cars behind her when it all started, and she fought the instinct to grab for him. He was out of reach, and she had bigger problems to deal with. The first few rocks came crashing down, the earth swallowing them up. She threw her hands above her head, fingers contorted as she weaved a red net, a shield. She heard Thor shout something, he in the seat beside hers, but the sound of the bombs was too loud to distinguish it. Like a tank, the first enormous chunk of earth fell. She shouted, surprised by just how hard it was to keep the rock from crushing the SUV. Immediately, she began to shake, and she knew it wouldn't be long for the weight to become too much. She had to hold on or they all would die.

"Hold on!" Maria shouted from the front, clutching the steering wheel as the car came to screeching stop.

The vehicle lurched forward, wisps of scarlet curling around outside and holding up the rock. Thor reached for Mjӧlnir and ripped away his seat belt. He tried as best he could to take a fighting stance, but there was nowhere to go, and no enemy to swing his hammer at. In all honesty, Wanda thought he looked pretty out of his depth, but she was soon distracted by more rubble.

"Lady Hill, what has happened?" he said, leaning forward to speak with the agent.

"What does it look like? Someone's bombed the tunnel!" she said as the charges continued going off in the deep. "Look out!" she shrieked as a large boulder fell through Wanda's defense.

It clipped the front passenger side, making the car jerk and the engine go dead. Maria threw her hands up to shield her face as the front window was busted out and glass went flying. Wanda yelped as she felt the rock settle above them and become solely bolstered by her.

"Thor, I need-," she said through her teeth, breathing hard and trying not to pass out.

It was all she could do to keep the rock from falling on their heads, taking every ounce of concentration and mental strength. Even so, she was slipping. She could feel her mind giving out, and with a whine, the roof of the SUV began to buckle. She put her palms out flat on the roof, pushing against it physically and mentally. Thor then threw his hands up as well, and Wanda felt sweet relief. She still pushed against the rock, but it was now a team effort.

"Fury, come in," Maria said from the front, finger on the radio in her ear. "Clint? Tony? Anyone there?"

Maria slammed her hands on the dashboard in frustration.

"Thor, are you alright?" Wanda said through a clenched jaw.

She looked to the thunder god whose huge arms shook just slightly under the weight of the rock.

"I am fine, Lady Maximoff. This is manageable," he said. "Just don't let go," he added, repositioning so that he was pressing his shoulders against the top of the roof and lifting with his legs as well.

"Wouldn't dream of it," she said. "I doubt you would last as long I as I did."

"Is that a challenge?" Thor said with a strained chuckle. "Because I think I could."

Maria turned from the front seat and said in a slightly crazed voice, "I swear to all that is holy, if you let go and crush us all because you're both too busy with a pissing contest, I will come back there and kill you two myself."

Thor gave another chuckle, but then the weight above them shifted again. Wanda shouted unintelligibly, focusing all of her strength on the rock and earth above them. Maria froze for a moment as the two Avengers in the backseat slowly regained control. Then she was at the radio again, calling out for help as the roof of the car sank little by little.

 **AN:** Hope you liked it! It is obviously a little AU as Pietro is alive (curse you, Joss) and Bruce and Thor are still with the team.

 **AN:** 6/21/15-updated for the misspelling of Sokovia. Whoops


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two:**

 **Nat:**

She had never been so terrified in her life, so absolutely stricken with fear that every breath was shakily drawn, every beat of her racing heart, aching in her chest. The absolute darkness seemed to deepen the sense that everything was closing in around her. In all actuality, it was, and Steve was the only thing keeping that at bay. The roof of the SUV had sunk across his shoulders, the rock and earth above conforming to him. Dirt and smaller rocks were slowly pouring in from cracks formed where the roof met the lip of the car window. She felt glass beneath her fingers and earth on her face. She pinched her eyes tight and tried to shake it off. Breathing slowly, Nat concentrated on keeping calm, but the edge of her mind, she could feel the acrid, creeping cloud of panic. It was dark and cramped and she could hear the whine of car metal bending and flattening out. She desperately wanted to claw out and pull herself away, but there was nowhere to go.

"Steve?" she said shakily, focusing on the trembling form above her. "Steve, are you-, can you?"

She wasn't exactly sure what to say and she couldn't see his face to read what was probably on it: fear, exertion, strain.

"Yes. Radio...now," he said gruffly.

Nat could feel his arms on either side of her, palms flat against the floorboard of the SUV. His knees rested on either side of hers, creating a shield that protected her from the rock above threatening to wipe them completely away. A shield made of flesh and bone, and despite his super-human abilities, Nat doubted that he would last much longer. She could feel sweat already pouring from him, feel the tremor in his arms. _He's going to give out. He can't keep this up._ She tapped the radio in her ear and said, "Hey, anyone there? Come in, this is Romanoff and Rogers." She desperately hoped that someone would answer.

" _Red! Oh, am I glad to hear your voice. How you holding up?_ "

Tony's voice came over the line, strained but happy.

"Funny you should say that," she replied, thinking of Steve literally holding up.

" _What do you mean?_ "

She shook her head even though he couldn't see her.

"Never mind. We need your help. Now, preferably."

Tony fell silent for a couple moments, the only sound over the line that of his breathing.

" _Alright, alright. Lemme work some magic, pull some strings, pray to a few idols_ -"

"Stark, we don't...have...timeforthis!" Steve cut in, voice hitched and words slurring. "Can you help…us or…not?"

A couple more moments of silence passed over the radio.

" _I_ _'m coming, I'm coming. Give me a few minutes. Think you can hold out that long?_ "

Nat looked to Steve, but he didn't seem to be paying attention. The soldier was focusing on the immense weight on his back, a load that had already caused the windows to bust out and the seats to fold. Nat could feel a slight pressure on her feet, but she ignored it as best as she could.

"Tony, just hurry. Can Friday get a location on us?"

The engineer didn't answer for a moment and Nat assumed he was conferring with the AI. She really hoped that Friday could find them.

" _I've had Friday start a scan. Let me dig out first, OK?_ "

"What?"

Natasha suddenly felt sick. She asked, "Are you trapped too?"

" _Just a little bit. Don't worry about me, I'll be there soon_ ," and before Nat could say anything more, the line clicked dead.

"Nat, are you…alright?" Steve said.

Despite the urge to scream 'no, she most certainly was not alright,' she nodded.

"I'm fine, Cap. You?"

He gave a gruff sort of laugh, like an exhausted chuckle. Steve didn't say more, but then Nat supposed he didn't really have to. She could feel the exertion in his trembling arms, the weight of the mountain settled on his back as it seemed to crush upon her as well. She was struck suddenly by the realization that she had never placed nor had her life placed solely in someone else's hands. Nat couldn't face this challenge, couldn't fight this enemy. But she believed in their Captain.

Even if that might not be enough.

 **Tony:**

"Clint? Clint!" Tony called, but the line clicked dead mid-roar.

"Eleven minutes, sir."

"Oh god," he said, internally praying that Bruce wouldn't hurt the other two.

What were the two against the Hulk? What could Clint do to fend off Bruce's darker ego? Even if he did happen to have his bow, what purpose would his arrows serve further than pissing the giant off? Tony could only hope that Pietro would get them to safety, hope that Bruce wouldn't find his way to a city in his crazed state. _Hope. Is that we've come to?_ Tony was repulsed by the thought. They were the Avengers. They'd saved the planet from total destruction just months ago and were already reduced to hoping that each other would just 'be okay.' Tony decided he wasn't going to hope anymore. He was going to _do._

"Friday, get me a spec of the mountain and the locations of all those still kickin'."

"Right away," she said and across his screen came a 3D rendering, his own red dot blinking at him, almost halfway through the mountain.

Ten blue dots were scattered around the highlighted tunnel in small groupings of two's and three's. He felt the blood drain from his face at just how few a number of dots there were.

"How many dead?" he asked, dreading the response.

"Sir," Friday began, as hesitant as an AI could sound.

"Show me."

And then much more harshly, the white lights appeared. They peppered the mountain tunnel, dozens of specs coming to life and his stomach rolled at the irony. It was a moment before he realized just how unlikely that his teammates were alright. Ten lives of forty-something. Tony knew how proportions worked. He also knew that he was running out of air.

"Friday, put everything into the chest plate repulsor and the palms," he said. "We're going to dig out."

"Yes, sir," and the diagram of his suit appeared in the top corner of the screen.

A moment passed as the chest plate and palms on the diagram grew brighter, signaling a building up of energy. Tony prepared himself for the task he was about to face. _He_ would _save those the little dots if it killed him._

And when Friday said, "Ready," he knew that that was true. As soon as the repulsor surged to life, the rock outside began to shift and burn and fall back on him. The earth clanged loudly against his suit, the sound reverberating in his helmet. He scrambled to stand up even as he turned his hands upward and burning light shot from his palms, beams of energy turning the rock to dust. Tony felt like he was still being pulled down as the mountain tried to sink back upon him. He became somewhat prone and intensified the energy being shot from his hands, pulling energy from his chest plate. Slowly, he stood upright, all the while burning through the rock and earth that threatened to crush him. A voice then came over the radio.

" _Hey, anyone there? Come in, this is Romanoff and Rogers_."

Tony nearly fainted in relief. Natasha and Steve's pictures came across his holoscreen.

"Red! Oh, am I glad to hear your voice. How you holding up?"

He tried to keep the shake out of his voice.

" _Funny you should say that_."

"What do you mean?"

He started to move upwards, his shoulders scraping against the sides of the 'tunnel' he was making.

" _Never mind. We need your help. Now, preferably_."

Tony's oxygen timer ticked down to nine minutes.

"Alright, alright. Lemme work some magic, pull some strings, pray to a few idols-"

" _Stark, we don't...have...timeforthis!_ " Steve's strained voice came over and Tony couldn't help but wonder what in the world he was doing. " _Can you help…us or…not?_ "

What sounded like sand started hitting the helmet of his helmet, making a _hissing_ noise. The map of the mountain showed his red dot making steady headway upwards.

"I'm coming, I'm coming. Give me a few minutes. Think you can hold out that long?"

A few moments passed in radio silence.

" _Tony, just hurry. Can Friday get a location on us?_ "

He glanced at the blue dots, wondering which they were and knowing there was no possible way to find out. He decided to opt for the white lie instead. _Best not to worry them needlessly_ , he decided. He focused on the earth and rock threatening to crush him.

"I've had Friday start a scan. Let me dig out first, OK?"

" _What?_ "

 _Oh, right. Not making them worry._ Tony internally cursed.

" _Are you trapped too?_ "

Nat sounded anxious, even at totally normal, non-assassin standards.

"Just a little bit. Don't worry about me, I'll be there soon," and he clicked off the line before he could say anything else stupid.

"Seven minutes, sir."

Tony sighed and tried to ignore the feeling that he was slowly drowning.

"How far till we're above ground?"

He waited for Friday to read the map and used a loose pocket of earth to shoot forward, blinding beams of energy shooting from his palms as he gathered speed.

"Two thousand feet, sir."

He groaned.

"Sorry I asked."

"ETA is five minutes," Friday said. "If that helps. Just…"

He could almost hear the 'just don't get buried again,' hanging in the air.

"Anyway we could put names on those little blue dots?" he asked after a few hundred feet.

"I can try."

"That's all I can ask," he said.

The rock continued to fall upon him, knocking him back down half a foot for every yard he made in progress. He eyed the little clock ticking down, counting away the seconds until he'd be starved of air. _Six, five, four._

"Four hundred feet, sir."

The rock slowly turned to compacted dirt and clay that he knew would just stick to his suit and get lodged in the gaps between the plates for days. If he survived. The clay turned into topsoil which turned into tree roots.

"You might want to slow down, sir. You're fast approaching a-," but then he hit it.

Tony nearly fell back down the semi-shaft he'd created when he collided with the underbelly of a tree. The roots got all tangled up around him. He let a sound of surprise escape as he turned to the side.

It was like being born again. He wasn't surrounded in darkness anymore, but soft light as the last dregs of a sunset were leached from the sky. He burst forth into the air, free of the mountain and its clutch. It was just him and the free air now and he pulled up the faceplate. He reveled in the freedom for all of two seconds before he heard an ear-splitting roar come echoing up the mountain slope.

"Code green, Friday. Get Veronica for me, will you?"

"Right away, sir."

 **Clint:**

Bruce, or what was him only minutes ago, bellowed in his face, green eyes harsh with hatred and fury, mouth twisted in a vengeful sneer. Clint could see Pietro staring at him as well from behind Bruce, panic in his stance and on his face, but the archer made a subtle 'stay back,' gesture with his hand.

"Hey, big guy. The, uh, the sun's getting real low," Clint said, palms out flat.

He tried to keep his voice placating, reciting Nat's lullaby as best as possible. The green giant kneeled down, placing his enormous fists on either side of the archer and leaning closer. The Hulk stared into Clint's face, confusion on his own as if he couldn't figure out why the lullaby wasn't coming from his Natasha. His face contorted in rage again and gave a head-splitting roar.

"Whoa there, buddy. Just calm down," Clint called over it. "Let's not start something we'll both regret, OK? It's me, Clint. Just...just calm down."

He tried to soothe the Hulk even as his chest tightened with fear. Bruce didn't seem to listen and pulled back a fist to attack.

"Bruce, it's me! It's Clint!" the archer shouted.

The fist came down like a truck from a bridge. Clint threw his hands up to protect himself and waited for the weight to crush him. And waited and waited. He opened his eyes, unaware the he had closed them. He was no longer trapped by the Hulk, but several hundred feet away from the tunnel opening.

"Oh god, warn me next time," Clint said as waves of nausea swept over him.

He bent double, hands on his knees, and breathed deeply.

"If it hadn't been for me, you would be a red stain on the rock."

"Thanks for the image, Speed."

Pietro just chuckled a bit. It was soon drowned out by another roar as the Hulk realized his enemy had escaped, seemingly, into the air.

"Warning," Pietro said as the Hulk turned to look for the archer.

Clint started to protest, but was cut off by the lack of air there seemed to be in superspeed. He was no longer bent in half in the road, but on his knees in the brush of the mountain plant life. He really was going to be sick this time, his stomach rolling and clenching painfully and his throat growing tight.

"I said 'warning,'" Pietro said, stepping back in case Clint chucked.

Clint just waved his hand as he regained control. A moment later Pietro said, "Are you alright? This usually never happens."

"Just motion sickness…give me a minute."

So Pietro took up guard duty, blurring about the forest. Clint decided never to let the Enhanced save him again. When his stomach had finally stilled, he stood back up straight.

"Pietro," he called, trying to get his attention.

The sound of a gun clicking answered him. He reached for an arrow that wasn't there to load a bow he didn't have.

"Freeze," a deep voice called, maybe ten feet behind him. "Hands in the air."

Clint slowly obeyed, palms upright and open. His sharp eyes picked out Pietro in the brush, kneeling behind the foliage. The archer just barely shook his head as the sound of boots on twigs grew louder behind him. A moment later, rough hands took his wrists from the air. Clint used the opportunity to implement a few of Nat's choice moves and promptly had the man lying flat on his back, the wind knocked from him and a bruise soon to bloom at his temple.

"Pietro, check for more."

He sensed more than heard the Enhanced leave. It was at that moment he fully comprehended the would-be captor. He was in a standard black uniform, an emblem on his chest of a shield and an eagle. Clint sighed and said, bending close, "You know, I'm not a very big fan of SHIELD at the moment, but they at least have semi-competent agents. I took you down in, what, half a second?" The man was still wheezing, gasping for air.

"Who are you?" Clint asked. "Because you're most definitely not SHIELD."

The man spat at his feet.

"Oh, real mature."

"There were two more, but I took care of them," Pietro said, appearing from the air.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Clint asked.

Pietro rolled his eyes and said, "Oh you funny Americans. Like to beat everyone up, but can't put a bullet where it's due." Clint balked.

"You _killed_ them?"

The imposter-SHIELD agent slowly tried to get back up.

"Of course not! I don't want to be fired, no matter how much I wished to," Pietro said, punching the man back down.

"Why?" Clint asked, so taken aback by the vicious nature he hadn't known the kid had had.

Pietro pointed to the man and said, "You don't recognize them?" Clint shook his head and said, "No. Should I?" The Enhanced knelt down and gave their captive a pat.

"Maybe it's best for you that he never does," Pietro said, and like a glint of light upon glass, became a blur tying the man to a nearby tree.

"Pietro, what'd you mean?" Clint asked.

When the Enhanced had finished his work, he started a trek through the forest. Clint sped after him, tripping on roots in his haste to keep up.

"Hey, you can't just leave me here! HEY!"

When they were out of earshot, Pietro said, "Don't worry, we'll come back to question him later." Clint grabbed the Enhanced's shoulder, whipping him around.

"What the hell do you mean, 'best for you that he never does?'"

Pietro fell silent, giving him a pained look.

"Just trust me, if you value your humanity, wait till we're far enough away."

Clint was so confused he almost didn't notice that they had reached the road again. He spun around, poised for another attack.

"Why are we back here? We don't know where Bruce is," Clint asked, keeping his voice down.

"Yeah, we do," and Pietro pointed up the mountainside to a scar running through the trees, splintered wood and trampled vegetation marking a clear path the Hulk had made. Clint shook his head and said, "This is still much too close. We need to get-," but he cut himself off. The thought of her brought a vice-like grip to his chest and it was suddenly hard to breathe. Pietro turned to him and said, "We do. And we will. She's still alive, just like Wanda is and Thor and Steve and everyone else. I believe in that. Don't you?" Clint closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. He shook his head and said, "No, I don't."

Clint couldn't bring himself to hope for that. He couldn't be like Pietro and invest all he had in something that remained so precarious. He wanted to hope, to pray, but he didn't think he could survive believing in anything more than the fact that he wouldn't give up on them.

"Well, this has been a bummer."

Clint whipped his head up as the sound of repulsors died and metal clanked against the asphalt. The iron faceplate slid up to reveal a weary, but okay Tony Stark. His suit was severely dirtied, mud and dirt coating the paint and bits of grass stuck between the plates. The suit was littered with scratches, dings, and dents. He looked as if he had been swung about the ground by Bruce. Maybe he had.

"Jesus, Stark. What happened to you?"

He gestured to his suit and said, "Oh, this? I was just digging myself out."

"Of the mountain?" Pietro said in surprise, pointing to the mound of earth and rock soaring up above them.

"Oddly enough, I was buried in that one," Stark said, nodding his head to a neighboring peak.

Clint rolled his eyes and said, "Never mind this. We have to dig them out."

"I thought you said that they were dead?" Tony challenged.

Clint glared at him. Even as happy as he was to see the engineer alive, he still felt like choking him too.

"That," he started, pointing to mountain, "-will not be their grave. Not if I can help it."

Tony's face became serious (if that was even possible), and he said, "No, it won't."

"We can make heroic declarations all day, but the three of us aren't going to make _that_ big of a difference. We need help," Pietro said.

Tony winked and said, "Already called it in," and like he had planned it, hundreds of self-driving construction bots descended from the sky. They were about the size of basketballs, rectangular in shape, and propelled by mini repulsors.

"Ronnie will be down in a mo to deal with the big guy."

Clint couldn't bring himself to smile, but he felt something stirring in his chest as the bots flew to the mountain, claws reaching out to remove the smaller bits of rock.

"Oh, and one more thing," Tony started, his face plate sliding down.

Clint turned back to look at him.

"Nat and Steve are alive."

 **Wanda:**

The minutes had ticked by; five, ten, fifteen, twenty, and still, Maria could not get anyone on the radio. Wanda's scarlet ribbons of telekinetic energy curled and unfurled outside the car, coaxing the rock into staying in place. Every couple of minutes, Thor set the women's hair sticking straight up, as if he were losing control of his power. Wanda dearly hoped that he wouldn't accidentally electrocute them or something.

"This is Hill, Thor, and Maximoff, come in," Maria said again, trying to get a message out despite the faulty comms. "Hello? Anyone out there? Hey!"

"Lady Hill, I believe they will not work no matter how many times one tries," Thor said, a bit of irritation in his voice.

"I'm sorry, do you have a better idea?" she asked, turning in her seat to face him.

"I am just simply tired of the 'broken CD,' so to speak."

"It's broken _record_."

"It's irrelevant."

"I don't remember asking your opinion, Zeus."

"Do not speak to me of that imposter!"

"ENOUGH!" Wanda screamed.

The two turned to her in surprise, falling silent.

"I'm working hard enough here, I shouldn't have to deal with your two's bullshit as well!"

She flashed red eyes on Thor and said, "Stop acting like a child and _help_ me." He didn't seem to notice that he had eased up on the roof of the car during he and Hill's spat. Thor jumped back into place.

"Apologies, Lady Maximoff."

"And you," Wanda turned to Hill. "You're SHIELD are you, not? Try fixing the comms, not wasting the battery."

Hill nodded faintly, eyes a bit wide, and pulled the earpiece out to fiddle with it. Wanda felt a little bad for yelling at them, but she couldn't take their bickering. She needed to focus on the weight above her, threatening to crush her. Even with Thor's help, it was skittering on the edge of being too much. She had never concentrated so hard in her life, pushed her abilities this far to the brink. A splitting headache was building at the back of her skull and she couldn't remember ever being this tired in her life.

Under her breath, Wanda whispered, "Please help us," hoping that he would come, hoping that he would hear her plea. She needed him, now in this moment if not ever again.

 _Please help us. Please hear me._

And he did.

 **AN:** I think I'm going to have two more chapters. Hopefully I can update the third sooner than I did this chapter. Thanks to all those who are following this fic and please review!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three:**

 **Nat:**

 _It's only minutes now._ _Seconds will continue to pass until he just can't do it any longer._ She could feel the air growing tense as they soon approached that moment. He had been holding the weight for nearing an hour now and Nat decided it was the most impressive thing she had ever seen. She knew that Cap was strong, but it was never so obvious and in front of her, literally before her. Nat had seen him punch men clean off their feet, lift cars, slice through jeeps with a _motorcycle_ for god's sake, but this was different. This was precarious and so much more dangerous. This wasn't a burst of strength, a quick punch, but a continuous battle for control. _We could die here_. She couldn't keep the dark thought from her mind. It had been skirting the edge of consciousness for a while now, plaguing the border with its noxious air.

 _We could die here._

She had never feared for her life before, not really. She believed too much in her abilities, in her team mate's abilities. Whenever the threat of death became imminent, she wasn't fearing for when it descended, but working a way out, fighting a way through. Today was different, the people in her life were different. She had found deeper friendships in the Avengers, ones that almost met that of her and Clint. And she had Bruce. Bruce, who she believed with every fiber in her being would make it out of this alright. Maybe a little green, but fine. She was, of course, proven right when Tony had called twenty minutes ago. His voice was a bit more static-filled, as if there were more rock and earth between them. She didn't know if that was a good thing or not.

Tony greeted her with his usual sarcastic tone, and proceeded to inform her and Steve of Clint, Pietro, and Bruce's relative safety. She had flooded with relief, able to relax (if that were possible given the circumstances) as all she had done since recovering from the shock of being buried was reel in anxiety and panic. _How were the others? Were they alright?_ She could take Tony's snark any day if words like that were spoken with it.

"Thank god," she had said, giving Steve a grin before remembering that he couldn't see her.

" _Yeah, we're working on getting you out right now. Just hang in there, OK?_ "

"Alright," she'd said, but that was twenty minutes ago, and she was still waiting for Steve to lose his hold.

She blinked the wetness that had formed away, hating that she was nearing tears. Somehow Steve knew.

"We'll…be OK. I'm not…going to…give up…anytimesoon. Alright?"

Even with the load of a mountain on his shoulders, he still was the leader she knew him to be. Or maybe he just needed to say the words out loud to make himself believe them too.

"Okay."

Nat hated how small the word sounded.

"I'm sorry," he said after a couple moments. "I know it's…not any of…our fault, but…"

"I know," she said, reaching up to give his wrist a squeeze. "I'm sorry too."

"They'll be here soon."

It sounded like prayer.

"Yes."

"Tony will be…here soon."

It was more of a wish than a declaration.

"He will."

"I can last…until he does."

His arms shook so terribly.

"I believe you."

"Thanks, Nat."

 _So he didn't believe it either._

 **Tony:**

"Friday, show me that spec again. Nix the white dots, please, and then call Dr. Cho. We're going to need medical assistance. Veronica, implement Nat's pre-recorded lullaby if you can. Knock him out if that doesn't work, but if you start hitting critical levels, back off and come help us dig. Clint, get back. You're gonna hurt yourself. Speed, restrain him if you have too. And Jesus Christ, if I have to tell you little robotic twits again to move the rock _out_ not up, I swear to god, I'll de-wire the lot of you."

"Yes, sir. Bringing up the specs and phoning Dr. Cho now."

" _Hey, big guy. The sun's getting real low…_ " Nat's recorded voice came over the line via Ronnie's comm as the humongous bot sped off into the sky.

"I'm not one of your machines, Stark."

Clint crossed his arms, an irritated look flashing across his face.

"Exactly, which is why you shouldn't be in there. You could be crushed."

"I'll be fine," he protested. "I've got Speed," Clint added, elbowing the Enhanced.

"Uh huh, right."

"I'll just help dig, alright?" Clint said, already leaning down to work on the rubble.

Tony rolled his eyes.

"Fine."

" _Tony?_ " came the voice of Dr. Cho. " _Friday tells me there was an accident? What's happened?_ "

"Hey! Yes, we're in a bit of a tight spot. You see, we were in a convoy…," and Tony told her the entire story as he worked on the first major boulder, using the propulsion mechanisms in his gloves and arms to lift the enormous rock from its nest.

" _That's terrible! Have you called the police?_ "

"Problem there, sweet heart. They don't exactly know of this tunnel."

" _So?_ "

"It's a SHIELD base. We're not even supposed to be here."

" _Well how are you going to dig them out?_ " she asked.

Tony sighed and said, "Leave that to us. Just take a quinjet. I'm sending one to you now."

" _Alright, Tony. Be there soon_."

He settled the weight slowly, balancing it before taking off in the air. The boulder was "deposited" with an echoing _boom_ as it cracked against the rock, falling into the valley below. Tony's construction bots worked like flies, buzzing about the tunnel's collapsed entrance and removing the smaller bits. Now that they were told to remove the rock, Tony didn't have to deal with his entire army of bots laden with earth and hovering in the air as if they'd forgotten what it was they were supposed to be doing. Out, _not up,_ Tony thought. There would come a time as they dug that removing the rock would put the tunnel back in jeopardy of collapsing, but for now, he didn't particularly want barely-competent clumsy bots just holding rocks above the fragile and very crack-able skulls of Clint and Pietro.

"What are we going to do when it gets too dangerous to remove the rock?" Speed himself asked, voicing Tony's own wonderings aloud.

"Uh," Tony said, balancing another generously-sized boulder over his head. "Haven't figured that part out yet."

"What do you mean? I thought you had a plan?" Clint asked, pausing in his work removing smaller bits of rubble.

Tony coughed and tried to pretend like he didn't hear.

" _Stark_."

Another cough.

"Stark!" came the insistent shout. "What's your plan?"

Tony sighed and turned to face the expectant Avengers.

"I, uh, I haven't actually…worked that part out."

Clint gave a sigh and returned to the rock.

"You're not mad?" Tony asked, confused.

"I don't have time to be," was the gruff reply.

Tony tossed the boulder across his shoulders into the valley.

"Fair enough," and he began on the next chunk of mountain.

Perhaps twenty minutes later when a sizable dent had been made into the tunnel, Tony called it.

"We've got to figure something out now, it's going to collapse again."

Pietro appeared from the air, smudges of dirt across his face and his palms streaked with dust and sweat. Clint turned as well, expectant. Tony realized that they were waiting on him to speak.

"I have an idea," he began, already bracing himself for the adamant cries of protest. "But you two will _not_ like it."

"Like he said," Pietro started. "We don't have time for anything else."

Tony nodded his head in thought.

"Alright. I can have Friday call in the…uh, the Iron Legion."

He received the exact opposite response he expected.

"How soon can they be here?"

Clint's voice was so strained, conflicted.

"Ten minutes, sir, from our Los Angeles tower," Friday said.

"Call them in," he said before turning to Clint. "They'll be here in ten minutes."

Pietro's eyes fixed on Tony, his mouth pulled down.

"Promise me, Stark," he said, his thick accent affecting his words. "Promise that we won't regret their help."

"You want to see your sister again, right?"

He nodded.

"And you want Nat to be OK, right?"

Clint just stared at him. Tony sighed and said, "Take a look at that for me, guys." He pointed to the mountain soaring up above them.

"Cap's trapped in there. And Thor, and Hill, and Fury, _everyone, every single reason_ that the world still remains relatively unscathed is in that hell-hole. They need us, now more than ever. The Avengers isn't just a team name, it's the people who make up that team. And half of them are buried alive."

He paused for a moment, staring at the two before him. Finally Clint said, "Then let's get them out."

"Agreed."

Tony looked at the Enhanced whose reverent word seemed to throb with the ache that was certainly strumming in his chest just as it was in Tony's.

"Great."

Tony opened his mouth to say more, but than a flash of red and gold caught his eye from the cusp of the mountain, stars starting to come into being in the sky behind it.

"Sir, we're nearing critical levels," came Veronica's voice.

"Alright. Lock into mine. Maybe I can get a start on that monster of a rock there-"

"Sir, we're nearing critical levels in addition to being tailed," and a thunderous, guttural roar came echoing from the peak.

The mega suit landed before Tony, unfixing itself to allow for him to become engulfed. He glanced up the cliff face as he settled into the new suit, quickly reading over the stats. Just as his palm locked into Ronnie's, the trees began to shiver far above and something _big_ was tearing a path straight through.

"Bruce has terrible timing. Has anyone else noticed that?"

"Shut up Stark and just go deal with him. We'll wait here for the Legion."

Tony shot up from the road, flexing his mechanical muscles.

"Hey, Brucie. You're not mad at me, are you?" he asked when he came close to the green beast.

He was answered with an uprooted tree, flying through the air like a rocket. Tony ducked out of the way.

"And so Round Two begins."

 **Clint:**

 _We don't have time for this. We_ don't _have time for this. WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS._

"Pietro!" but before he could say 'duck,' he was flying through the air as well as the uprooted maple tree splintered against the road. He pressed a hand over his mouth as his stomach threatened to empty itself again.

"That is going to be a nasty fight," Pietro said, oblivious to Clint's greenish tinge.

As if to emphasize his point, a far-off scream could be heard as Tony was swung like a doll from the mountain side.

"Out of shape," Pietro said, tsking. "I told him last week that he was spending far too much time playing that…what was it? Xbin?"

"Ohhhhhh," Clint said, rubbing his face.

"I told him, 'Go spar with Hulk. Get a handle on that clunky suit, look how Johannesburg went!' I said."

Clint looked up just in time to watch Tony whip Bruce around and against the side of the mountain.

"I'd say he's doing pretty well."

Bruce recovered quickly, jumping from the peak with Tony in tow, before diving down the mountainside, digging the suit into the rock.

"Or not."

" _Not helping_."

Pietro jumped back, a blur, as a chunk of the cliff face cracked off and slid down onto the road below. It gave a resounding, thunderous _boom_ and Clint was hit by bits of the rock broken off on impact.

"Don't!...grab me again, Speed, or I _will_ vomit on you," Clint said when the blonde made to pull him further away again.

"Fine. Be crushed, I don't care."

Tony shouted again.

"I can handle myself, believe it or not."

"HULK SMASH!"

Pietro scoffed.

"What is your fragile little bow going to do to save you from a boulder? One, I might add, you don't even have on you!"

Another tree came flying down the mountainside.

"Gentlemen."

Clint threw his arms in the air.

"All _you_ know how to do is run away! You can't even spar!"  
"Gentlemen, please."

Pietro shot the archer a withering look and mumbled something under his breath.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

The Enhanced said loudly, "I said, 'slow, old man!'"

"Clint, Pietro."

"WHAT?!" the two shouted in unison, turning to face their newest addition.

His red face was scrunched in confusion, head tilted a bit. His cape, flowing like liquid gold across his shoulders and down his back, waving in the mountain breeze.

"What is the matter? Has something gone wrong?"

No matter how much Clint tried, he could not get over the fact that this creation was a very different thing than Jarvis, a separate entity. He half expected Tony to start calling off orders, but said engineer was quite busy. In fact, the two battling giants were getting busy rather close. Tony had the green giant around the neck, soaring down the cliff side and heading for the valley, but Bruce got a vicious punch in that had Tony seeing stars and the two fell out of course, barreling straight towards them. Clint dived out of the way, finding himself once again with his back to the mountain. They crashed against the concrete with a _slap_ and a _clank._ Skin and metal on pavement. Clint winced a bit. He turned to find that Pietro had shot off down the road, and Vision was…standing right in the middle of the dazed-from-the-fall, half-hearted brawl. Literally, the goliaths seemed to shift through him, but the newest Avenger remained unharmed and unmoved. It was if he had turned transparent.

"Stop," he said, his voice calm, yet thunderous.

Tony, having regained his bearings, stepped off and away, shooting up from the ground. Clint could hear him asking things, most likely to Friday over the state of Veronica. Bruce, whose eyes were wide and crazed, fixed on the much smaller, more fragile man before him. He pulled back his fist and before Clint could shout in warning, the Hulk brought it crashing down. Just like before, it slid through the Vision as if he weren't there.

"Please, return to your mind."

The green giant raised his other fist to attack, but it was hesitant, confused.

"Not…hurt?" he said, his deep and rumbling voice every bit as dumbfounded as his face.

"These are your teammates. You must remember who you are."

Vision reached up with a scarlet hand, palm flat and patient, facing Bruce. The Hulk seemed a bit more confused as this was what his Nat was supposed to do. He didn't seem to be as upset about it though as he had been with Clint.

"Lullaby?"

The Vision nodded, smiling slightly.

"It's time to calm down. Come back to yourself."

And very slowly, hesitantly, Bruce raised a mammoth-sized hand, palm out. Vision, turned his own hand up, and like Clint had seen Natasha do a dozen times, flipped the switch, and the Hulk began to shrink.

In a minute, the physicist had replaced the monster, dressed in nothing but the specially-made, Stark-issued pants. He was kneeled on the asphalt, hands on his head and moaning softly.

"Oh my god…what happened?"

Clint couldn't find his voice. He was still in shock that Vision had managed to return Bruce to himself.

"You owe me, Brucie. Big time," Tony said, rubbing the jaw of his helmet with an armored glove.

Veronica landed a moment later, and Bruce jumped. His face fell when he saw the enormous bot.

"Oh no. Oh my god. Is anyone hurt?"

Pietro appeared.

"Yes, but not because of you."

Bruce turned to the Enhanced, confusion twisting his features before a spark was lit and he remembered.

"The tunnel…," he mumbled, turning to face the mountain.

At that moment, dozens of Legion bots landed on the pavement, the armor clanking against the asphalt.

" _We are here to help_ ," they chorused, but instead of Ultron's, it was Friday greeting them. " _We are here to help_."

"Finally!" Tony said, and Veronica unclipped herself from the engineer.

Bruce's face grew dark.

"What are those?"

"I was thinking something similar," Vision added, his usually benevolent face taking on an accusatory look.

"These," Clint said, finding his voice, "-are the only reasons that we might even have a _remote_ chance of saving the others."

The group turned to look at him, mixed emotions on everyone's face. Bruce was stormy, but like an errant thunderstorm of the coast - one that would be (and was) quickly blown apart. Pietro's was intense, focused. Tony remained hidden behind the face plate, but Clint could imagine what was there - determination, a bit of concern, but reservation as well. When Clint's eyes fell on Vision's, he wasn't surprised to find fear and confusion.

"What do you mean?"

 **Wanda:**

She couldn't do this anymore. Her mind was breaking, bending out of shape. The pain was barbed wire tearing through her skull, twisting and coiling in the deep recesses of her brain. Wanda felt tears start to form. She was oh, so close to losing the grip. The car's roof had sunk down so low, it was bending the tops of the car seats down, the windows of the car long broken out. Her neck ached from bending it, her back slick with sweat and the heat of the car that had become stifling.

"Hello!" Hill called on the radio again. "ANYONE!"

For a moment, she fell silent. And then the SHIELD agent exploded. She ripped the radio from her ear and threw it in the floorboard, pounding her fists into the dash.

"SOMEONE, PLEASE!"

"Lady Hill, you must stop!" Thor said, but he couldn't move or the car would surely collapse.

"HELP US!"

"Maria, be calm!"

He was ignored. Wanda was nearing her snapping point.

"What about you guys? Don't you have radios? Mine's busted, but surely yours are alright?"

She turned in her seat, sounding desperate and terrified. Her usual neat bun was starting to fall loose, wisps of dark hair curling off her temples and sticking to her forehead. As the only light came from Wanda's scarlet magic, Hill's face glowed red, giving her a bit of a mad appearance. Wanda thought that maybe Maria was a little claustrophobic.

"Lady Hill, we've already told you we don't have any. Our abilities mess with their functionality, but I assure you, we're going to be perfectly fine. You're going to have to calm down."

His voice was deep and soothing, but Hill barely slowed.

"Oh my god. We're going to die here..."

Wanda felt a twinge of anger shift through her, but she let it fuel the resistance she was making against the rock instead.

"Maria," Thor's voice came clear and authoritative. "You need to, um…breathe! Yes, breathe. In and out, in and out." He turned to Wanda. "Do you have a brown paper bag?"

"Of course I do. It's just in my purse."

"Where's your purse, Lady Maximoff?"

She was going to throttle him.

"I was not serious!"

His face contorted in confusion.

"So you don't have a bag?"

If she could, she would've slapped him.

"I don't have a bag!"  
"Well you could have just said that initially."

She rolled her eyes and tried not to bewitch him unconscious.

"Guys, what is that?"

"I was being sarcastic."

Thor gave a beaming smile.

"A jest! I understand now."

"Guys."

"Fantastic."

"Guys!"

The two turned to face the SHIELD agent. Maria was pointing to a light outside the car. It was a burning, bright gold sort of light that grew stronger as it leeched into the rock blocking the window.

"What…is that?" Thor asked and the air began to become dry and crack just a bit.

Like the sun rising from its grave in the eastern lands, the golden light broke through. Wanda could hear the whir of machines, the high pitched whine as mechanical joints were turned. It sounded like Stark's suit, and Wanda felt the first inklings of hope she had had all the time buried in the rock. The brilliant light dimmed until it was gone, and Wanda was no longer blinded from their savior.

"Are there any survivors?"

Wanda could have cried at his words had she not been so tired.

"Yes, yes! Oh my god. We're alright!" Maria said, shifting to see their savior.

His crimson face seemed as brilliant and beaming to Wanda as the golden light had been.

"Vision?"

He just smiled and offered a hand through the broken window.

'I can't, I'm-," but before she could finish her sentence, half a dozen bots came flying through the hole in the rock the Vision had made.

Their little claws spread out like a blanket, fragile-looking metal fingers sliding between the roof of the car and the earth above. The claws seemed to entangle with each other, and with a soft blue, a net of energy hummed to life. She could see more behind the Vision, keeping the ceiling of a tunnel from collapsing. Wanda sagged back in her seat, grabbing her head as the weight was lifted from her mind. The relief was numbing, but she possessed enough cognitive power to realize that they were going to be okay now. His hand was strong around Wanda's as the Vision helped her from their prison. She tried to thank him, but she didn't think she had the words to describe her absolute elation. And when he said, "Wanda, your brother is alive," the Enhanced lost any ability to.

 **AN:** I'm not positive on Tony's California tower, but I'm assuming he's at least built a couple more Stark towers since the first one was turned into Avengers Tower. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it! As always, thanks to those following and fav-ing this. I'm going to have one more chapter, hopefully up soon. Please review! :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four:**

 **AN:** OK, first of all, sorry for the wait! But to make it up to you guys, I wrote the longest chapter yet, and as it turns out, not my last. I meant to finish the story in four, but it felt too rushed so there will be a fifth chapter! Also, thank you SO much to all that have fav'd and followed this so far and MarvelLuver (There does seem to be a bit of RomanRogers, doesn't there? Didn't intend for that, but we'll see. Lol), Jango27 (Thanks! I try to keep everyone as in character as possible!), and the mysterious "Guest" (Sorry, but I guess you're still going to have to wait for the end. ;) ) for reviewing!

 **Nat:**

 _Nothing lasts forever._ The thought kept coming to her, plaguing her. Every treacherous syllable stinging in her head. A mantra that twisted her stomach all up in knots. _Nothing lasts forever._ How bittersweet a thought. It promised the cease of pain, so enticing a declaration, but still an end. Like coming to the last chapter in a book you know can't be anything but painful. Only, this isn't a book and the end won't just be words on a page. It'll be violent and sudden and everything Nat's supposed to be able to fight against but can't. A master assassin that can't prevent her own assassination. How ironic.

Nat just wished she could see. The dark made everything more oppressive, no matter how much she tried to convince herself she was elsewhere. Steve's face was very close to hers now. She could feel his shaky breaths on her nose. Rogers was no longer up on his palms, but bracing with his forearms, head bent down. Nat could feel his hair tickling her forehead, his arms beside hers slick with sweat. If she could see through the darkness, Nat would have seen the way his eyelids kept drifting closed, how his face was no longer contorted in pain, but slack with fatigue. He had not spoken for a long time.

"They'll be here soon," she whispered, like if she spoke any louder, the words would hit hard enough to knock him off balance. "Tony said he was coming to help us."

Nothing.

"Just a few more minutes, Steve. Tony's coming."

He made a breathy reply, a clipped sigh. A few more minutes passed. Then a few more. Nat heard each tick resonating in her chest, and she couldn't help bracing against the inevitable. A few more moments. The car frame gave a creak and she nearly yelped as Steve gave an inch.

"Sorry," he said in a strained voice once he regained control.

The weight on her feet was a bit heavier, nearly painful, but she didn't let on.

"It's alright. We're okay."

 _Why did the words taste so sour?_

"Nat, could you…please distract me?"

Distract? Distract how?

"What, like a story or something?"

"Yeah, like a story."

She laughed despite herself, more a nervous exclamation than amusement.

"I'm not very good at that."

"Who cares?"

She supposed that was a good enough point.

"Alright. Well, did I ever tell you about the time Clint burned off his eyebrows?"

A low chuckle.

"No."

"Well, it's a great story. Basically, birdbrain got it in his head that he could build a potato gun. Like, really build one. There's a reason Tony's the engineer."

"Definitely."

The car frame creaked again.

"Anyway, Clint spent an entire day trying to put this thing together off of some plans he found on the internet. The internet is like this giant-"

"I know…what the internet is…Nat," Steve said gruffly, cutting her off.

"Good, because I don't really know how to define it anyway. So here Clint was, holding up this PVC and glued-together…canon, for lack of a better word, and he waved it around a bit, showing it off to his kids and a very nervous-looking Laura. And I must inform you that I most definitely said that this wasn't going to work. Only, he never listens to me and he certainly wasn't going to start then."

She smiled, recalling her friend. That was probably one of her more favorite days. It had been a long stretch of missions, grisly ones that didn't make sleeping any easier, but the two found themselves with a weekend off and took the chance to go back to Clint's home, Nat's home-away-from-home. She decidedly did not help make the gun, but opted to sit upon the workbench and tease Clint. He really could _not_ read directions to save his life.

"Anyway, long story short, he loaded the gun, pulled the trigger, and was engulfed in a massive fire ball. How one screws something so simple up, I'll never understand, but he was hairless and pink for a good two weeks."

Steve was laughing (as much as he could in his position, anyway) before she had even finished.

"Just don't tell him I told you. I've been sworn to secrecy."

Steve gave another inch.

"Don't think…I'll really get the chance to."

She huffed.

"Way to stay positive," but Natasha secretly felt the same way.

"Sorry…Anymore stories...you're never to tell of?"

He didn't sound as amused anymore, just more desperate to be distracted. Nat wasn't one to disagree.

"Oh, tons. Did you ever hear about Budapest?"

The metal creaked again, the weight on her feet more than uncomfortable now.

"Haven't had the pleasure."

His breath ghosted across her hair.

"It's a really good one," but she didn't sound very enthusiastic.

Another inch. His cheek was pressed to her forehead.

"I'm sure it is," he whispered.

Nat reached up, took his wrist, and gave it a squeeze. She didn't start the story, but closed her eyes. Her throat grew tight, her chest seizing painfully. When she spoke again, Nat's voice was wavering, quiet:

"You can let go, Cap."

He said nothing. Took a deep, shaking breath, pressed a kiss to her temple.

And then it happened.

 **Tony:**

"Wanda," he said, eyes growing wide, mouth turning up as if he couldn't help it.

Pietro was literally a blur as he ran from his place by the quinjet to where Tony, Thor, Hill, and Wanda, helped by Vision, stepped from the mountain's hold. He threw his arms around the younger Enhanced and she hugged him back just as fiercely.

"They told me you were alive, but I couldn't let myself believe it," she said, gripping him tighter.

Pietro just chuckled, and pulled back to smile at his twin.

"Hey, I literally dug myself out and no one hugged me," Tony said, feigning irritation.

"I will embrace you, metal man," Thor said and took up Stark, _in his suit_ , like he weighed nothing.

Tony awkwardly patted the god and said, "OK, that's probably enough, Sparky." He was set down (set down!) and allowed some dignity. Tony was just glad he had his face plate pulled up. Before anyone could hug him again, he retreated back into the passageway.

It was about twenty feet in before he realized someone was following him.

"Stark, may I be of any assistance?"

Tony couldn't help but laugh.

"Does something amuse you?" and when the engineer turned back to face him, his scarlet face was twisted in confusion.

"No, you just remind me of someone."

"Your AI Jarvis?"

Tony nodded and walked a bit further before the Vision spoke again.

"I understand he raised you."

"In a sense."

Twenty more feet.

"He loved you, Tony."

"Funny, I didn't think AI's had feelings.

Fifteen more feet. They were coming upon five more dots.

"As close as they can to feeling," Vision said.

"He was just programmed that way," Tony said, growing uncomfortable with the entire situation.

Of course Tony missed Jarvis, still nearly called for him instead of Friday, but if being without the AI meant that the Vision, a being completely created to protect people, to embody the meaning of being an Avenger, than Tony could go without.

"We're coming up on five more," Tony said after a moment, stopping to face the right.

"I'll be right back," the Vision said, and disappeared into the wall.

Tony stared after him for a moment before asking Friday why he couldn't walk through walls.

"Because you and your suit, sir, are tangible, and would simply bounce off other tangible things."

"It was just an exclamation, Fri. I _know_ why I can't walk through a wall."

And as soon as he was starting to ponder how he just maybe could build a suit that did such, the Vision walked out again.

"They are trapped in their car beneath a lean-to made from chunks of the original tunnel's concrete wall and ceiling. I fear it is severely strained, however."

"Be my guest," Tony said, nodding to where the yellow gem rested in Vision's forehead.

Without another word, the newest Avenger scorched out the rock, cutting out another tunnel. Tony's (brilliantly designed) construction bots peeled away from the main passageway's ceiling and spread their claws out into the newest tunnel, supporting the ceiling. Twenty minutes later, and four extremely lucky SHIELD agents were extracted, each thanking the two most ardently. Tony's Legion bots helped them out of the tunnel where he knew Dr. Cho would be waiting to deal with injuries.

When at last the final dot was pulled free, Tony asked despite it still glowing blue, "Is he dead?" The wind was knocked from him when Fury's limp form was revealed, eyes closed.

"Unconscious, sir," Friday replied.

"Take him to Cho," Tony said, nodding to the Vision.

He was already walking back down the tunnel, illuminated by the construction drones' net-like web of energy keeping the ceiling from collapsing.

"Two left, sir," Friday reminded him.

"Nat and Steve," he answered, mostly to himself, and stride deeper into the tunnel.

A few Legion bots were still working on digging further into the passageway, a few stopping to support the ceiling until more of the construction bots could unfurl and take up the weight. Tony stood just before the drones as they slowly revealed the metal of a car and found himself thinking how right he had been about hoping. Yes, they had lost many, many good agents, but the few that he held most dear were going to be alright. Banged up, most definitely, but okay, and Tony didn't even have to hope it so.

"Nat, we're here."

Nothing.

"Nat? Nat, are you there?"

Silence. The Legion unearthed more of the dusty metal of the car.

"Nat!" he shouted, feeling dread take twist in his gut.

More and more of the SUV was revealed as the Legion took the chunks of rock back down the tunnel, and construction bots moved forward to support the rock above. Once the back of the car was completely bare, Tony used the hyper-focused laser to burn a hole into the SUV.

"Nat, I'm coming!"

A few moments, and Tony had cut a circle out of the back of the car. He grabbed the crumpled metal and pulled it out easily, eliciting a _screech_ as well. He threw the piece of hatchback behind him for the Legion to deal with and leant forward, supporting the frame of the car as he struggled to remove the misshapen debris within. He struggled a bit before cursing and blasting the seat out of his way.

"Jesus, Stark!"

By the beams of light shining from his helmet's eyes, a very ragged-looking Natasha shot him a look and put a hand up to shield her eyes. Steve's face was pressed beside hers, eyes closed with near exhaustion. His arms were on either side of Nat. Tony was absolutely flooded with relief.

"Why didn't you answer me? You have comms for a goddamn reason," he said, angry despite himself.

"Battery must have died."

He shook his head and said, "Alright. Let's just get you guys out of there."

She took his armored hand, ducking beneath Steve's chiseled arm. Tony helped her out of the SUV and into the tunnel. She was barely freed before she leant back into the car.

"Steve, come on."

His reply was very strained, delayed.

"I…can't move. I'm stuck."

"What do you mean?" she said, voice rising in pitch.

He glanced at Tony, eyelids heavy.

"The rock? It's being…supported?"

"You're good. I've got the bots on it."

He glanced at the drones hovering above them, their finger-like arms buried in between the car and the tunnel ceiling.

"Okay," Steve said.

Nat pulled back from the car and moved to let the Cap out. His arms appeared first, shining with sweat. He reached a hand out, and Tony bent forward to take it.

Why one of the bots failed at that moment, that exact second before Steve could be completely pulled free of the hell he'd been trapped in, Tony would never understand. The _whirring_ of the bot fell silent, leaving the others with a load they couldn't bear. Their engines _popped_ and _clanked_ before becoming extinguished, followed by a _shriek_ as the metal frame buckled, and a heavy sort of silence that blanketed everything.

Nat screamed.

 **Clint:**

He could hear her from outside the mountain, could feel the terror and pain twisting in his own gut as it echoed down the tunnel. _Nat._ He didn't stop to think before sprinting inside. _What had gone wrong? Was she dying? Was she…already dead?_

"Nat! Tony!"

It was a little disturbing to run past the Legion bots as they stood still, unresponsive to the emergency before them. They remained silent, holding the rock above them up.

"STEVE!"

It felt like hitting a stone wall. He literally stopped as if he had run into one. The heartbreak in her voice ripped into Clint more thoroughly than any bullet or knife could. He ran faster.

As Clint came upon the scene, the first thing he processed was the faulty bots dangling from the ceiling, their claw-arms stuck in the rock. They hang limply, the lights in their repulsors extinguished. It smelled faintly of smoke. Then Clint saw Nat, clawing at the rock and twisted metal of a car, Tony digging in an equally-frenzied state. They shouted deliriously, desperately, and Clint stood frozen in shock.

"White dots. Fucking white dots!" Tony shouted, and dug all the faster.

Clint tapped the radio in his ear.

"Pietro."

A beat.

" _What is it?_ "

"Get Cho ready with the cradle. We're going to need it."

A longer beat.

" _What's happened? Who's hurt?_ "

"Steve. And get down here, now."

Pietro was beside him before he had even finished speaking. He seemed frozen in shock as he looked down at the two before him, red hair and red helmet glinting dully as they dug.

"Steve, we're coming! We're coming!"

Nat's voice had grown hoarse.

"Oh god," Pietro said, voice low.

Tony's gloved hands slowed a bit, and Clint's stomach twisted in dread. Stark pushed Nat away before using his palms to blast away the metal. Another construction bot left its post a few feet behind them to needle its claws into the car, helping the engineer to pry it open. A bloody hand was revealed. And then an arm. Clint put a hand over his mouth and turned away, unable to look upon a bashed-in skull that he knew would be dug out next. He focused his eyes on Pietro's tennis shoes, studying the laces as if it would distract him. The minutes dragged on.

"Pietro, take him," Tony said in a shaky voice.

Clint still couldn't look up, couldn't force himself to look at what had become of his friend. He stared harder at Pietro's shoes until they blurred away, leaving nothing but silvery wisps and droplets of blood on the stone ground.

Nat took off after them, her limp curls bouncing weakly on her shoulders. Clint was soon to follow, and the sound of robots whirring and the squeak of joints creaking followed him through the tunnel. He didn't dare turn around, couldn't focus on anything more than putting a foot in front of the other. The _clank_ of armored footsteps grew in number behind him, echoing around the narrow passageway. The blue light of the construction bots and blank, white stares of the Iron Legion lighting the way.

When they finally were free from the earthy clutches of the mountain, Clint let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. Tony flew past him and into the quinjet set down about twenty feet away. Nat followed, leaving Clint behind. He slowed, not quite ready to face whatever was inside anyway. He didn't know what to think, what plan of action to take, what protocol to be carried out. _Steve was invincible, he wasn't supposed to be able to break._

Mindlessly, he approached the quinjet, the light from inside glinting off the metal of the landing pad tilted open. He could hear voices from inside, hushed and strained. Despite the desire to know, the overwhelming _need_ , Clint could not force himself inside and see for himself whether the Super Soldier was truly broken. Instead, he leaned against the landing metal frame of the hatch and stared at his shoes.

"Clint?" came a voice from behind him.

He turned, hoping he didn't look as distraught as he felt. Wanda stood about twenty feet away, her weight shifted on the leg behind her as if she meant to retreat.

"What's wrong? Pietro was just with Thor and I. What happened?"

How was he supposed to tell her?

"Is it Nat?" she asked, stepping forward.

Clint shook his head, crossed his arms, and looked back down at his feet.

"Tony? Who?" she asked again, the tips of her boots stepping into view.

He felt her hand on his arm.

"No, it's Steve."

 _Why did it have to come out so weak?_ She didn't say anything and Clint asked softly, "What am I supposed to do? I couldn't even look at him." It was a long time before she said anymore, but when she did, her voice wasn't shaky or weak.

"We avenge him."

He looked up at her in surprise, taken aback by the sudden venom in her words.

"What do you mean?"

 **Wanda:**

" _Doesn't matter what you did, what you were,"_ Clint had said, fixing her with an unwavering gaze. _"But if you step out that door,"_ he'd said, _"-you are an Avenger."_

An Avenger, a hero. Wanda didn't believe it of herself. She was the result of a traumatic experience and lab experiments. Her hatred of Tony Stark was the only reason she was special, strong. How was someone supposed to save the world with compassion when they were born of hate? Her sweet brother wasn't hateful, he was _vengeful_. He fought to bring balance, an equilibrium. Wanda found herself fighting because she liked it. She _liked_ ripping Ultron's metal heart from his body, she _liked_ destroying those evil things, wiping them away from the earth. Clint's words that day in Sokovia brought her courage and the strength to fight, but they somehow also brought her with thoughts of revenge, thoughts of violence. _I'm an Avenger. Watch me destroy under the flag of vengeance. See that flash of red in my eyes? That's hate and anger and the last thing you will ever see._

And she felt all of those things raging inside her as she led Clint away from the light of the quinjet and into the darkness of the road where she knew Thor was waiting with their prisoners.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

The shake from his voice was receding.

"Pietro told me of those you captured today and I have seen their minds, who they really are."

"The SHIELD imposters?"

She nodded. A few minutes passed as they walked closer. She lit the way with a wispy sphere of red, a swirling orb of energy throwing everything into the color of blood. Wanda found herself thinking that it perfectly reflected the anger curling in her gut.

"They set the charges…didn't they."

It didn't even really sound like a question, but she let her silence be an answer. He walked faster, eyes red with her magic shining in them.

"Wanda, Clint, what's happened?" Thor asked when the two came upon him and the prisoners at his feet.

They numbered only three, hands tied behind their backs. The archer didn't answer at first, and cracked a fist into the cheek of the nearest prisoner. The man fell at the attack, unable to catch himself with his hands, pinned as they were.

"Barton," Thor said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Anger had found a home in Clint's eyes, in his frame. He shook with fury, seethed with disgust.

"What has happened?" Thor asked.

"Steve's hurt."

His words were clipped.

"What do you mean?" Thor asked, his brows furrowing.

"He was _crushed_ ," Clint spat. "He's dying or already there because of _them!_ " he shouted, pointing past the god at the three prisoners. "It's their fault!"

Wanda had never seen him so angry. Thor stepped back, turning to face their captured with a stormy expression settling on his face. The two Avengers spoke no more, glaring down at the prisoners, and too overcome with fury for words. Wanda spoke first, fixing her eyes on them.

"Why?" she asked even though she should have been asking 'Who do you work for?" or 'What's the end game?' or something more relevant, less personal.

No one spoke.

"WHY?!" Wanda shouted.

Without waiting for an answer, she needled into one man's mind, and brought his worst fear to light. Because she was in his head, she saw it too. The SHIELD imposter began to scream as in his mind, he was on fire, scorched alive, pinned in the flames. Wanda felt his pain, his fear, but unlike before, she did not become weakened by it, did not succumb. She stepped away from it while he shouted unintelligibly.

"What the hell are you doing to him?" another one said, surprised at his colleague's sinking into insanity.

Wanda turned on him next, opening up the drawers of his mind until she found that most guarded moment, that most locked-away fear, and forced him into reliving the day he had nearly drowned as a child. The black waves peaked in his head and crashed upon him as Wanda watched form the shore. He began to thrash on the pavement, eyes unseeing as he fought for the air he was unaware he had. She left him to his drowning and focused on the last prisoner, eyes flashing scarlet with all the rage built up inside her. _These men were responsible for so much death and pain. Let them die in their own minds._

"You tell me now," she said in a calm voice, "-why you've committed this act of terror or I will dissolve you into a mindless shell."

He glared at her, eyes hard and hateful, lips pressed thin.

"Fine," she said, and attacked his mind as well.

Sometimes Wanda would come across a man truly fearless, someone who could fight the mirages, the visions she tortured them with. This prisoner was one of those few. His face grew void of blood, pale, but he did not scream or thrash as he was approached by the demons in his head. He fought them off and Wanda was left powerless against him.

"Tell us," Thor said when Wanda did nothing to sway the prisoner.

"Piss off," the prisoner said, spitting at Thor's feet.

The air grew dry and warm, the hair on Wanda's arms standing up straight. Thor bent down into the face of the third man and said, "You must know who we are, who I am. Is this really how you want tonight to go?" The air began to pop. The man looked up at the god with exasperation and said, "What's to stop you from killing us anyway? There is no gain to come from knowing why we did what we did. And why wouldn't I deny myself the simple pleasure of keeping it from you, as this looks to be my last hour anyway."

Thor sighed and tapped the man's shoulder. He screamed out in pain, jerking violently. Thor removed his hand and the torture ceased.

"Who sent you? Why have you done this?" he asked the man.

His two fellow conspirators had finally dissolved into the hells of their minds, and lay on the pavement with unseeing eyes. The third man looked upon them with a tired expression, saying nothing for a long while. When he did, he fixed them with an icy glare and said, "You claim to be heroes. Funny way of showing it." Clint lunged.

"You're the one who set the charges! You're the one who killed all those innocent people! FORTY-SEVEN PEOPLE ARE DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!" he shouted, taking the prisoner by the collars of his SHIELD jumpsuit and throwing a punch.

"Maybe even forty-eight."

The three Avengers turned in surprise. Tony no longer wore his suit, but even if he had, there would be no way to keep the weight from affecting, crushing him. Wanda was taken aback by just how burdened he seemed, his shoulders slouched and his brows heavy.

"Torturing retired Hydra operatives? That's what they are, right? Leftovers from last year?"

"How did…" the prisoner gaped.

Tony shrugged and said, "Didn't. Just a good guess, but thanks for proving me right." Then he turned to the three and said, "Dr. Cho thinks that he could pass at any moment." Wanda felt her throat growing tight.

"Just…think about where you want to be if he does," he said and nodded to their prisoners.

Then he walked back towards the quinjet, hands in his pockets, and head turned down. His retreating back, slowly draining of Wanda's scarlet magic, snapped her from the rage, unplugged her from the fury. She didn't realize she'd been using it to keep from feeling that same weight too.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five:**

 **AN:** The long-awaited chapter! Sorry it's late again, I was extremely busy these past four days. But here it is! Also, thank you soooooo much for reviewing and favorite-ing (?) my story! I'm afraid I may have given up on it had there not been such a positive response. Thank you all so much and I hope you enjoy the last chapter of _Hold Your Breath_.

 **Wanda:**

But now she felt the weight full force. It sank upon her back, gripping her chest, and twisting her guts all up in knots and tangles. Forty-seven dead, maybe forty-eight. It hurt her the way Steve could become just another number. Rogers was perhaps the only one, save for Pietro that she could whole-heartedly trust. They needed him. Their group was nothing without him, captain-less. And what a sorry state to be.

"We should go to him."

The normally regal Thor looked at her with a similar sort of oppression. "Tony is right. Rogers would want us to be there."

"He would."

Clint didn't say anything.

"What should we do with them?" Wanda asked, nodding towards their captives.

She could feel the other two slipping deeper into their visions, becoming totally engrossed and thoroughly incapacitated. Now that Wanda was drained of the raging fury, she could just barely pick out their thoughts drifting in the back of their heads. She saw blurrily, as if through a dirtied lens, a scene of mourning. Several men were gathered before the rubble, staring out over where three hovercrafts twisted up out of the debris. She could feel their loss of comrades gripping at their hearts, and the seething _need_ for revenge muddying their minds.

"I'll stay," Clint said.

His eyes were as hard as before, but also empty.

"Barton," Thor said hesitantly, as if unsure what to say. "We can find a Legion to guard them."

"Then I'll watch until one can."

Wanda wanted to fight him on it, to wake him of this empty, hateful state he seemed to be under.

"Clint, didn't you hear Tony? Steve is close to death."

His face grew dark at her bluntness.

"Then we can't let his assassins escape, can we?"

"You speak as if he's already dead," she snapped.

"He might as well be! You didn't see him Wanda, you weren't there! Tony says it's bad, and it is. But you can't even imagine the scope of this because you weren't there!"

Wanda found she didn't know what to say, maybe for the first time in her life.

"Barton, we have to go see him."

Thor put a hand on his shoulder.

"Then go," he said, shaking the hand off.

Clint's voice was hard and strained and weak all at the same time. Wanda hated it.

"You'll regret this," she said, but Wanda wasn't going to waste her time arguing with him. "For as long as you live, you'll regret this," and she spun on her heel, bathing the way with crimson light.

She heard footsteps behind her, one pair.

When they reached the quinjet, she could hear an odd sort of keening, like weeping. _We're too late_ , she thought. _He's dead._ Her heart started hammering in her chest and she walked faster, stalking up the quinjet's landing pad and into the ship. The source of the crying was a SHIELD agent she didn't recognize, sobbing into the palms of her hand. Another SHIELD agent had an arm wrapped around her, his dark curly hair hiding a face Wanda knew to be equally distraught. She could feel the pain in his mind. The female SHIELD agent, a dirty blonde-haired woman about thirty years old, wept steadily, a name flitting about her head with an odd string of memories to accompany them. _Carl, Carl_. The man of her melancholy thoughts wore a SHIELD uniform in a few of the random instances of recollection, but Wanda couldn't place him in her own memories.

"Agent Romanoff said it was very quick, Amy. Virtually pain-, painless," the curly-headed man said, giving the woman a squeeze. "We can be thankful for that much…"

She didn't say anything, but cried into her hands. It was then that the four agents, all sitting closely on a metal bench, saw the two Avengers.

"Where is the Captain?" Wanda asked.

She, of course, had her answer before it was voiced aloud, the vague image of a sterile room with silver equipment and IV racks coming to the man's mind.

"The medical bay, I think. Dr. Cho's already placed him in the cradle."

Wanda was walking through the quinjet before he had even finished. She made for the room almost numbly, taking no notice of the plane's interior. She couldn't think more than to place one foot in front of the other. As she grew closer to the medical bay, the most intense feelings of depression she had ever felt haunted the minds residing there. And pain, so much pain, it was like every fiber of her body was being ripped loose, tone into pieces, and scalded against flame. It was heavy and raging and migraine-inducing. _Steve_ , she thought, barely able to put words together as she was assaulted by this agony.

She and Thor came around the corner to find Nat, Vision, Hill, her brother, and Bruce sitting outside the door. They looked up from the ground, eyes on the newest additions.

"Have you been in to see him already?" Thor asked.

Nat nodded her head and said, "We just didn't want to crowd Dr. Cho."

"Ahh."

As Wanda approached the door, her brother reached for her hand and squeezed it. She didn't smile, but there was a mutual understanding. Her brother was going to be there for her no matter what was facing them through the door. And that was the strength enough to go on. The cool metal door handle was then in her hand, placid against her palm. _Don't you know that you lead to the hardest thing I'll ever have to bear?_

"Wanda," and she felt a warm hand on her arm.

Thor's face was just as terrified, dubious, but there was a subtle sort of strength there. Something different from holding up a car roof or wielding lightning. It was a wholly other form of resistance. And Wanda felt it leech into her mind from his, giving her strength as well. She took a deep breath and opened the door.

 **Clint:**

 _There's something to be said about rage,_ Clint thought. _It really can wipe you clean of everything._ In fact, he felt slightly envious of Bruce. To be angry all the time must be bliss. To be so tangled up in a fire that it consumes all thought was a sweet notion in Clint's opinion. But there is only ever so much firewood, and the flames will die eventually. They already were in Clint. Soon, he'd be cooling coals and a bit of smoke, the smell clinging to the edges. He wanted to burn forever, or as long as it took to become numb of everything. So he punched the man before him until both hand and face bled. _Blood is hot and red. Blood will keep the fire._ And Clint didn't think he could bear his rage going cold.

Steve was dying. _Punch_. And Clint couldn't save him. _Kick_. Time would never heal this wound. _Punch_. The Avengers would never survive this. _Fist to face until breathless._ They were going to fall apart as surely as the sun was going to rise soon.

He pounded the man before him, fist smarting with every impact. The man's skin was quickly blooming violet, a bruise unfurling across his cheek. And then there was blood, seeping from a split lip and broken teeth. Clint completely lost himself in the violence, his vision narrowing until it was just his clenched hand flying through the air. The archer was no stranger to hurting people. As a SHIELD agent and master assassin, he had killed many before, but there was always justification. Well, he could find purpose in this. _You killed them, you murdered them all._ It made it easier to continue and the world fall on deaf ears. _Steve's going to die, you pointless waste. He was the best of us and he's gonna die because of your heartless terrorism._

"Clint."

He didn't even notice that he was punching a still body.

"Please, stop."

Was he unconscious or had Clint killed him?

"Clint!"

His fists fell away, and the archer stumbled backwards. His knuckles burned and his wrists ached. The red was everywhere and it was dripping onto the pavement. Even when he turned, red was in her eyes, on her cheeks, in her hair, on her clothes.

"Please," she whispered, and red was fading from his mind.

"I'm sorry. I don't...I-," he mumbled, stumbling on the words.

She stepped closer, the beam of her flashlight dropping to the asphalt.

"Come here."

It was a command, an order. He knew how to follow orders if nothing else.

He wrapped his arms around her, the familiar smell of her shampoo clinging faintly to the curls tickling his face. Nat's muscled arms were secured around his neck, holding him close. The flames were stomped out completely now, and he was left to feel, fully and unencumbered.

"Oh god," he said, throat achingly tight. "What am I doing? Jesus."

"Clint, it's alright. We're okay, okay?"

It sounded more like she was comforting herself. Clint hugged her tighter. It was odd, this lack of fire. He felt naked without the flames to heat the ice in his heart. But now he could feel that shard buried there, piercing his chest more strongly than he could bear. He felt tears track down his face.

"I don't think I can do it."

"Do what?" she asked, voice hoarse.

"Look at him."

She pulled away, fixing him with a gaze more piercing than any shard of ice could be, even in near pitch darkness.

"He's not a deformed monstrosity, he's Steve."

"I know."

"He's in a lot of pain, but he's not conscious."

"Is that somehow better?"

She nodded fervently.

"Yes. I'd rather never speak another word with him than hear him in pain."

"Then why must I see him like that?"

Natasha gripped his hand, curling her arm around his and pulling it to her chest.

"Because you'll never forgive yourself, and you should at least say goodbye."

Clint wiped his eyes, pinching his nose and looking down at his shoes.

"Do you really think he's going to die?"

She blinked fiercely and said, "I can't hope for anything more."

"What do you mean? Is there really no chance for him?" he asked.

"Even if there was, I don't think I could let myself hope."

Clint felt more tears on his face. He rubbed them away quickly.

"I'll go."

"Are you sure?"

He nodded, breathing deeply.

"Then let's go…"

 _Let's go say goodbye._

Somehow, it was worse than he thought. Clint had expected to be affected by the state of him, by the way his bones would be all twisted up inside and the blood would pour from the tears made in his skin, but he wasn't. Granted, the super soldier _did_ look as bad as Clint had feared, but when he first laid eyes upon him, lying there in the cradle, the archer was more overcome with despair and fear for the life of his friend than apprehension for the state of his body.

Steve was severely injured, so much so that Clint was truly surprised he had lasted so long. The mechanical arms of the cradle worked fast and in tandem with Dr. Cho, working on putting back together the man that had just been ripped apart. A large sheet of clear plastic curtained the table, protecting his open wounds from the air. Several stands surrounded the table, connecting him to wires and IV bags of saline and blood slowly pumping liquids. A large machine _hummed_ in the background, breathing for him.

"Steve."

He stood frozen in the doorway, one foot in. Clint tried to force himself in, to approach the table and face his friend properly, but he couldn't move, couldn't even think. The voices of Bruce and Natasha behind him were sucked away, the edges of the room blurring just a bit, and the lights above dimming. A long time passed before he could take that first step.

"How bad is it?"

Clint immediately hated how weak the words were, not in their voicing, but in the meaning they held. _How bad is it?_ Clint could be speaking of anything, a ding in the car door, a flooded basement. There wasn't strong enough words to describe how he felt and voice the questions burning in his head.

"His back is broken, skull cracked, severe internal damage."

Dr. Cho was curt and to the point.

"Is that all?"

She binned a length of gauze, completely soaked through.

"Several more breaks-ribs, arms, legs. He also had a collapsed lung, but the cradle's already taken care of that…" she said, returning to her work with barely a glance in Clint's direction.

He was at the table now, eyes transfixed on the man before him. Steve was devoid of clothes save for briefs, all of his wounds exposed. His skin was bruised where it wasn't bloodied. His eyes were closed, but a pained expression lingered on his features. Of course, Clint saw nothing else as his eyes fell on the massive incision across Steve's chest, allowing access for the cradle's arms to work on the tissue damage within.

"What can I do to help?" he asked, if only to keep his mind busy.

He had to focus on something other than Steve's innards slowly seeping blood, glinting under the light of the plane's fluorescent bulbs. Cho shook her head and said, "Nothing. The cradle's doing most of the work, repairing and replacing damaged tissue. I'm just cleaning up the blood."

"Alright."

A long time passed before he even noticed Wanda and Thor sitting against the wall, seeming to hide in the area where his vision had gone dark. Thor was silent, eyes fixed without seeing on Steve's mangled body. Wanda buried her face in her arms, resting upon her knees. Clint crossed the room to take a seat beside her, joints aching and sleep weighing heavy on his mind.

"I hope he stays unconscious," Thor whispered after a moment.

"Me too," Clint said.

Wanda let a shaky breath go, her eyes shining with budding tears when she raised her head. Clint was surprised by the amount of pain residing there.

"God, I hope so."

 **Tony:**

Steve never did wake up, and Tony never did go to visit him. He kept to himself, unable to handle the dark look plaguing everyone when they came back from Steve's room, and unable to stand the heavy weight suffocating the commune floor in the weeks that followed.

Their prisoners were held somewhere in the Tower, looked over by Friday and the Legion. Tony couldn't bring himself to care much what happened to them so he left them to a small post of guard bots, the others back in the Rockies working on digging up the dead. Fury was there, fully recovered, with the remains of SHIELD to take proper care of the dead.

The Avengers resided in the Tower, wandering about the commune floor without aim, and Tony locked himself away in the lab, staring at holographic screens all day and dreading when Cho's news would finally come.

"You can't hide in here, you know," he said, taking a seat across from Tony and pinning him with a look from behind glasses.

"I'm not hiding."

"Believe me, I know what hiding looks like," Bruce said. "Steve's still not conscious," he added a few minutes later.

"Alright."

"Just thought you should know."

"Coma?"

Bruce didn't have to answer.

"That's probably best," he said, trailing off.

"Why is that probably best? He's most likely going to die," Bruce snapped in a hard voice.

"Yes, he is."

Tony was left alone after that. He didn't mind though. Everyone else just dredged up painful thoughts and memories. _I could have scanned the tunnel before we went in. I could have acted faster. I could have built better fucking bots that don't malfunction and get people killed._ Even alone, Tony couldn't escape the thoughts. Nat was the worst to be around, not that she made it hard on everyone else, but because her expressions were the emptiest, her voice the most quiet. She seemed to hide as much as Tony did, unable to face the others, but she hid in the medical bay, not the lab, never leaving Steve's side. Tony knew that everyone had been in to see him at some point since returning to the Tower, but he hadn't lain eyes on the Captain since depositing him in the cradle in the quinjet some five weeks ago.

Thor had spoken with him, Clint yelled at him, and Wanda begged of him, but he just couldn't go down there, couldn't force his presence on the man he had ultimately killed. It was almost three months, however, after the incident, that he saw him again no matter how hard he had worked to avoid visits.

"They're going to pull the plug," Wanda said, eyes flashing red.

"Okay."

Tony didn't look up from the new suit specs he had half-heartedly been working on.

"Do you even care?" she asked, voice tight.

He glared up from his desk, overcome with anger.

"Of course I fucking care."

"Then come see him."

Tony rolled his eyes and said, "What does it matter? It's not like I can talk to him anyway." Wanda's eyes flashed again and she said, "Stop being a goddamn coward." He was taken aback by her words and the anger in her voice.

"I'm not a coward."

She pierced him with a look and reached back for the door.

"You should follow your own advice."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Wanda was already halfway out the door, but she turned around and said, "The night it happened, you came to us and said that he might pass any time. Well, he's going to die soon, tonight." She stopped for a moment, her voice breaking just a bit. "And you should think about where you want to be when he does."

Tony stepped through the doors, and into the sterile white hallway where everyone was gathered. Thor looked up at him with the most defeated expression Tony had ever seen on his usually righteous features. Bruce sat in the corner, head buried in his knees, dark curls mussed. Wanda and Pietro were sitting close, shoulders pressed together. Hill was crying quietly in her hands, not lugubrious, but with all the raw and chest-gripping power as if she were weeping.

"We have all already been in to visit him," Vision said from his seat beside Wanda.

He held her hand, rubbing her knuckles methodically with his thumb.

"Where's Nat?" Tony asked as he counted all but her.

Clint nodded towards the end of the hall, behind a white and chrome door.

"Ah. Should have known."

Maria sniffed and looked up, eyes as red as everyone else's, if not more so. Bruce did as well, his empty gaze finding Tony's as if he had just stumbled across them by accident and lost the strength to look away.

"How are you, big guy?" Tony asked, and sat down across from him.

Bruce chuckled without smiling and said, "It's been a night." Tony then asked, "How's Nat doing?" He wasn't sure exactly why he was sitting out here making small talk, but the closer he looked at that door, the harder it was to gather the courage to go through.

"She's not doing any better than us," Bruce said, rubbing his face.

Tony nodded and looked away, feeling the burn in his throat grow hotter.

"Where's the pirate?" Tony asked.

Bruce actually smiled at that one, if only a little bit, and said, "Fury was here earlier, but he left after a couple minutes. Said he was really busy." Tony didn't say anything after that for a while and everyone sat in companionable silence. The engineer was glad for it. The lack of conversation made it easier to focus on getting up off the floor. When he did, he felt the world start to spin, the fluorescent bulbs above making his head throb. He leaned against the wall for a moment, and put a hand over his eyes.

"Tony?" Bruce said, the tips of his shoes coming into view.

He took a deep breath, gathering himself to put back together later.

"I'm fine, I just…I need a minute."

A minute passed, and then another, and another until Tony could lift his head and face his team, his friends.

"OK," he said, not knowing what else to say and turned for the door.

The room where he finally saw Rogers again was small, modest. There was a small window letting moonlight bathe the tiled floor and only bed. Several racks and a _whirring_ machine were attached to it, breathing for Steve. The sight of him was enough to knock the wind from Tony. Nat looked up from the side of the bed, eyes shining with unspoken grief, unshed tears.

"Hey," Tony said, and sat across from her on the other side of Steve's bed.

His face was relaxed in sleep, and he looked for all the world perfectly okay...aside from the breathing mask upon his mouth.

"Hey," she said, giving him a tiny smile. "He'd be glad you came," she added. "No matter how much you hate each other."

"I don't hate him," Tony said. "I just occasionally despise him."

She chuckled. "That's the most accurate description of your guys' relationship, actually."

"What is an engineer if not accurate?" he said, chuckling awkwardly.

He really didn't know what to say, a state Tony was rarely known to be in. Every time he thought of something, he dismissed it just as quickly. Everything seemed trivial and weak.

"So when are they going to, uh, you know…" Tony asked, turning away from the blonde when his eyes began to burn. He blinked furiously.

"Whenever you're ready. Everyone's already been in to see him," Nat answered in a tight voice.

"When I'm ready. Hmm," he said, barely a whisper.

Nat sniffed and said, "Not sure anyone could be ready for something like this, but that's what the medi-staff said." Tony nodded and let his eyes wander the room, gripping the arms of his wooden chair rigidly.

"Do you want me to step out?" Nat asked, blue eyes brimming with tears.

Tony nodded slowly and said, "I won't be long."

"Okay," Natasha said, and she rose from her chair stiffly, like she had been sitting there for a very long time.

The room's door opened and closed quickly, her vibrant curls the last thing he saw of her. Tony looked at Steve again who lay very still, the only motion that of his rising chest.

"Hey, old man," he said in greeting.

Steve's machine coaxed another inhale.

"This, uh, well…this is incredibly hard," Tony said, eyes beginning to smart again. "Just keep that in mind, okay? I'm going to try my best," he ended in a rush, wiping his eyes.

Tony took a deep breath and exhaled shakily, preparing in his head exactly what he wanted to say.

"Alright, here it is. Here we go. Um…" he started, but nothing would come to mind, not one single point he wanted to make or thing to say.

"Oh god, this is shit. I'm actually really failing at this. Jesus, I don't even know what to fucking think," he said, rubbing his head.

Steve's breathing filled the silence and Tony glanced away at the humming machines, trying to get a hold of the tumulus thoughts in his head. A couple minutes passed with Tony just sitting there, head in his hands, and listening to the _whir_ of the machines and the faint hum of chatter outside.

"Firstly, I just want to say that I'm sorry. Turns out that the wires had shorted out in the bot, but whatever. I'm sorry. It's my fault you're here and hurt so badly, it's my fault that all of our friends are out there mourning you, and it's my fault your life's been cut short. I'm sorry, Steve."

Tony wiped his face viciously, hand rough against his face, but no matter how hard he rubbed, tears kept flowing over his knuckles.

"I'm sorry, Steve. I'll…I'll never forgive my-, myself."

Another steady inhalation.

"I'm so sorry," he said, standing up from the chair, and striding for the door.

When his hand touched the doorknob, he turned back, gazed for the last time on his broken friend, and said, "Goodnight, Cap." Tony opened the door, allowing the hallway light to spill in across the floor behind him. And then an alarm went off.

 **Nat:**

Just as Tony opened the door, a harsh _buzzing_ noise sounded out and a nurse came from a room off the hallway.

"Steve!" Tony said, voice tight, and he ducked back into the room.

The nurse strode in next, and Nat followed, dread curling heavy in her stomach. It was unfounded, for there he was, blue eyes peering up at them, and finger tapping at the alarm button on his bed.

"He's awake!" she called back into the hall, heart soaring.

She heard the others get up, ask questions, but she only had attention for him. Steve's gaze was locked on Tony, brows furrowed as he tried to work out where he was, why he couldn't breathe freely.

"Steve, I'm your respiratory nurse, John. Stay calm. I'm going to help you breathe in just a moment, okay?" The grey-clad nurse than turned to the two Avengers and said, "Please wait outside. I'll bring you back in when he's more stable," and shooed them out.

Nat glanced one last time at Steve and offered a smile before she and Tony were both kicked out.

It was a long time before Steve was allowed visitors, nearing the dawn hours. His nurses worked swiftly, but they kept the others from coming in so that Steve could recover. "He's sleeping," was the last they had heard of him, but they knew him to be stable at least. When at last they were allowed in, Steve's wide blue eyes took in everyone like he was seeing the stars for the first time.

"Hey," Nat said, taking her usual seat beside him.

Steve looked at her and smiled warmly. The others took seats around, dragging up chairs and sitting against the wall. In Steve's hands was a white board and dry-erase marker. On it, he wrote, " _Hello."_ It was just so normal, totally commonplace and too casual for this monumental moment that Nat laughed.

" _Something I said?"_ he wrote with a sly grin.

Tony laughed, and said, "At least you feel well enough for humor. God knows you could use some of that." Steve rolled his eyes.

" _So how's everyone been?"_ he wrote, glancing around the room.

Nat didn't really have the heart to tell him that they'd been doing horribly, that all they'd done was cry and mourn and hopelessly hope for some miracle to fall upon their captain.

"We've been doing alri-"

"It's been hell," Tony said, cutting Pietro off.

Steve looked sheepish.

" _Sorry_ ," he wrote on the board.

Tony scoffed and said loudly, "What for? Youdidn't drop a mountain on _yourself_!" to which Steve grinned larger.

" _No one's fault, then_ ," he scrawled, nodding like this was the final and only opinion to have left. " _Just happy everyone's here_."

Nat watched with a mild wave of shock as Thor, who had been standing towards the back of the group, pushed through and wrapped Steve up in a hug, his enormous arms blocking the soldier from view.

"And we are glad that you are here," Thor said triumphantly when he pulled away, his hand clasping onto Steve's shoulder.

Rogers smiled once more and the tension in the room began to dissolve. Nat watched in silence, ever observant as the group returned to what they had been before. Thor's booming voice bounced about the room, Tony's witty one-liners thrown in between, Clint's raunchy jokes and Bruce's quiet humor filling the spaces. The twins and the Vision watched the exchange in silence per usual, and Hill had ducked out, probably to catch up on some much-needed sleep. Nat could feel the fatigue too, felt it settling heavily in her bones, but she easily fought it off, watching her closest friends grow back together again.

"I think it's time for rest," Thor said finally once the room had grown dark and quiet.

"Agreed," Clint said, and he followed the god from the room, stopping only to bid Steve goodnight.

Wanda, Pietro, and the Vision left next. Her brother's arm was around her shoulders, and Vision's crimson hand entwined with Wanda's. Nat had a budding suspicion about the two, but she was too tired to feel anything about it, just think with a smile how funny it was that the scarlet man had gravitated towards the Scarlet Witch.

"Goodnight, Steve," Bruce said, hands in his pockets and looking over the rims of his glasses at the soldier.

Steve nodded and Bruce left the room, walking as if he were floating along a current. The nurse checked the machines and monitors once more and said, "I'll just be in the next room, Steve. Ring if you need me, alright?" With that, he was gone too.

"Well," Tony said after a moment. "You certainly know how to clear a room."

Steve grinned.

"I'm gonna go too, I guess. Haven't slept in, oh," Tony said, glancing at his watch. "-a million hours."

" _Go on, I'll be here tomorrow_ ," Steve wrote, and Tony stood up from his chair.

"It's good to have you back, Cap," he said, and walked for the door.

Steve scribbled something on the board and nudged Nat, nodding towards Tony.  
"Hey," she said, and when he turned around, Steve showed the board to him.

Tony's face turned a bit pink, but he gave a reluctant smile.

"Thanks, Rogers," he said, giving the soldier one last glance before ducking out.

Steve set the board back down on the bed, three words upon it: _I forgive you._

With the room now completely silent, save for their breathing, Nat started to feel tired enough to just pass out right there. It was pleasantly warm, and the only light that of a side table lamp and the moon streaming in through the window above his bed. In fact, she had just started to nod off when she felt a hand grip hers.

"Steve?" she asked, coming to. "Whatisit? Need something?"

He shook his head, and scribbled something on his board.

" _I wish I could talk_."

"You will soon."

Steve rubbed the ink away and wrote something else.

" _No, wish I could talk so I could say thank you_."

Nat huffed and said, "Thank me? _You're_ the one that kept us alive."

" _But I would've given up sooner_."

She squeezed his hand and said nothing else for a while. Nat was wrapped up in her head, the thought that they _had_ almost given up piercing sharply through her mind. She and Steve were oh so close to giving in, but then Tony had _finally_ come. She owed her life to the both of them, and for the first time in her terrible, violent, and bloody one, she didn't mind. In fact, she would gladly sacrifice herself for any one of the Avengers. That's why it was so hard to watch Steve slip further and further away, slide out of life as if he had never touched it. She couldn't throw herself in front of a bot or an alien or a Hydra operative. There was nothing to fight against with Steve lost in his mind, just like there had been nothing she could do in the tunnel. And now, Nat felt like this was all a hallucination, an evil trick that would resolve itself into what it most likely would've been-a headstone, and a scar upon her heart that would forever smart.

" _Glad for another thing, too_ ," he wrote, eyes heavy with fatigue.

"What's that?" she asked.

He erased the board and inked upon it, " _When I woke up from a coma this time, it was still the same year_." Nat rolled her eyes and said, "Go to sleep, Rogers."

" _Only if you do too_." His handwriting had grown messy.

She rubbed a thumb across his knuckles as Steve's breathing slowed.

"I think I'll sit here for a little bit," she said to which he nodded, closing his eyes and letting his head sink further into the pillows.

Nat reached forward and took the marker and board, setting it down on the side table without a noise.

"Goodnight, Steve," she said, and when she began to feel too tired to stay any longer, she didn't worry. She didn't feel her stomach roll with guilt that she was abandoning him. Nat felt content, and so relieved that when she came back in the morning, it wouldn't be to an empty shell. Everything was okay again, even if it wouldn't stay that way very long.

They were the Avengers, after all.


End file.
